Archives for November 2016

Outsourcing is the practice wherein a business contracts or subcontracts part or all of its work to another country. This is primarily so the business can reap the benefits of cheaper labor. Outsourcing causes spikes in underemployment everywhere it’s practiced. This is because employees are displaced, jobs become scarcer, and there’s more competition for existing openings.

In anticipation of an article we’re publishing Friday, we’re featuring a clip discussing outsourcing. The video makes the point that outsourcing may have reached a point where the practice is now bad for businesses too. It’s a short and compelling clip. We hope it generates talk amongst our readers on our Community Board.

There is perhaps no greater feeling than being offered a promotion. It’s the supreme recognition for doing your job well. It’s also an opportunity to prove yourself in a new challenge. You might even feel like it’s an honor. However, the prudent thing to do is, weigh heavily the things that may or may not turn this golden opportunity into a dud.

The Salary

Direct to the bottom line. Consider the pay you’ll receive for taking this step. If this is your first promotion, then you’re likely making a step into “middle management,” which is one-step above the “front line” workers. Instead of being an hourly worker, you now have more of a “fixed” income, also known as a salary. This can be comforting or a curse. Now that you’re no longer able to benefit from overtime, you might become the default option for filling in when someone calls in sick.

When you work on salary, you no longer reap the rewards of “time and a half.” You could end up working on your days off for no extra money. Essentially, you’re back at the job you just moved up from, plus you have your new responsibilities to live up to as well. Some managers have to work a double shift just to stay caught up on their own mess. So be aware of the demands on your time, and how you will no longer be compensated for putting in that time.

“Now you see your recognition for excellence run short. The boss is slow to recognize or acknowledge your accomplishments, but is quick to nail you on mistakes.”

It comes and goes in waves, right? Part of you wants to pack it all in. Who are you looking at when it washes over you?

Is it a laptop screen, words sprayed across it, size 12 font? The words melt in front of you, become worthless, redundant. Perhaps they’re not words at all, just rows and rows and rows and rows of numbers. Each number means something. There is a physical thing that each digit belongs to, but it still doesn’t make what you’re doing any more important. All it means to you is one more day. Just one more day.

For some of you, it’s a customer. Do you notice the line appearing in their foreheads as they look at you? Their face contorting into an unrecognizable monster, with big, sharp, pointy, teeth. You’re not afraid. You’re just done. Numb to the fear.

They might not be in front of you at all. The screeching could be echoing down the line, rebounding around your skull like a year-long migraine. As the sound enters your eardrums, do you wince any more?

On the other hand, you might be one of the few of us that has had it all. Are you sitting in your board room, meeting with your fellow zombies? Do you sit at the table and see those around you in the same place, or are you like the majority of us that have that one sudden, daunting realization? Look to your left. Look to your right. Would you ever want to break bread with these people? I bet I know what you’d actually like to break…

“As I continued to erupt, throwing every single ounce of rage, misery, depression, and hatred out into the room, my boss’s wife would join me in going berserk.”

Today’s students are often described as lazy and entitled. They aren’t getting jobs after school for the same reason millennials have been told they aren’t getting full time jobs: because they’re not willing or able to do the hard work. If they were only willing to put aside their pride, they would surely find a part time job, or so the narrative goes.

This popular story simply isn’t true. Today’s students might have more distractions than students from other eras, but they’re just as willing to work hard as previous generations did. The problem with youth employment isn’t about the youth, it’s about the jobs—more accurately, it’s about an unprecedented level of competition for those jobs.

Here’s an alarming fact-Out of 140,000 new jobs created in Canada between October 2015 and October 2016, 124,000 of those jobs were part time. This means that except for the people actually qualified for the 26,000 full time jobs—most of which were in construction or highly specialized fields like education and natural resources—everyone is competing for the same part time jobs. To make matters worse, wage growth stagnation in Canada has many full time workers looking for side jobs to supplement their income.

“Young people often have to do three or four internships before they can get a decent job.”

1. A Bluth Family Member

If I could be any Bluth family member, I would be Lucille. Why? Because she drinks vodka for breakfast… with a slice of toast. She is always on top when it comes to witty responses to her family and friends. If she were less racist she’d be perfect.

20th Century Fox Television

2. Being A Kardashian

Yeah, no. I have no idea what these guys do either. So Kim was in a sex tape with a professional athlete and now shes got shit loads of money? Okay. Cool. If I join the K. clan do I get powty lips and a huge arse upon sign-up or is that earned through years of terrible television? Either way, MONEY PLEASE!

I was a child of about nine, when one night my father overheard me talking in my sleep. It was so peculiar, he told me afterward. You were talking about getting a job, and you seemed quite anxious. I tried to encourage you to speak more on the subject, but you weren’t responsive.

I don’t remember the dream, but I’ve often thought back to that conversation with my father. It’s occurred to me that my nine-year-old self − who was completely unconcerned with employment in her waking life – may have slipped out of time and into her future as a chronically underemployed person – a person who lacked the privilege of thinking about much else beyond employment.

I graduated from university into a recession and have been underemployed ever since. In addition to this, I had been a magazine journalism major, and my entire field was about to dissolve. In addition to that, I soon discovered my personal politics had not set me up to fit easily into any for-profit company. For the 23 years since, I’ve been underemployed, primarily as an independent contractor. As such, and along with many others at this time, I’ve developed a perspective on life heavily influenced by underemployment.

“Since then, I’ve noticed the work that tends to bring me the greatest financial reward is work I’m not formally trained to do. It’s as if this “outside of the society” fingerprint impacts me at the multilevel.”

I will never be a major league baseball player. Those words don’t cut so deep anymore, but if you’d said them to me several years ago I would have been a little melancholy. Twenty years before that, and I would have struggled with my sense of identity. If a childhood dream could be denied, what else was off limits? I no longer hold to such silly standards, but being aware of my limitations when it comes to pursuing certain careers is a little depressing. If I wanted to be a doctor at my age, it would be a social faux pas to start so late, though not entirely out of reach. The same could be said for less academic pursuits: singer, actor, comedian.

Not being at my physical peak, and lacking the talent to be a major league pitcher doesn’t bother me these days. What does is having the potential to be competent at a variety of jobs – not great, but competent – and lacking the drive to pursue them to completion.

“I can’t force myself to knowingly go down the wrong path for the sake of income, stability, and the slim chance it leads somewhere better.”

What is the future of work? Not just in the United States, but in countries around the globe? The world is changing at nearly incomprehensible speeds. Technology has revolutionized entire industries formerly static and unchanging. AirBnB and Uber have wreaked havoc on the hotel and taxi industry. The internet has had devastating effects on brick and mortar industries. Bookstores, travel agents, video stores, and countless other businesses are either now defunct or operating in microscopic numbers.

Underemployment has increased around the world. As we head into a largely unknowable future-one that could be mostly populated by synthetic employees like robots and automation, available jobs are going to dissipate. So what’s going to happen to the bulk of the world’s working population if millions of jobs disappear and no new ones take their place? The following clip looks into this issue, and though it offers no answers, it substantially details the trends that are changing how we work.

I just watched Donald Trump win the U.S. election. As Trump delivered his speech on how he would bring jobs back to Americans, it made me wonder how his presidency will affect business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.

BPO companies such as call centers are big business in countries like the Philippines and India. This industry provides more than a million jobs to Filipinos, and is expected to bring in revenues topping $22 billion by the end of the year.

I live in the Philippines and have worked for a number of BPO companies. They weren’t glamorous positions, but they provided a means for people like me to earn a decent monthly wage. This is regardless of one’s educational background or expertise. It’s an industry that doesn’t discriminate due to age or inexperience, at least not as much as other fields.

“It remains to be seen whether Trump stays true to his word and implements policies discouraging companies from outsourcing work.”

Disclaimer: this is the least ethical and morally disgusting article you will ever read. It’s entertaining, though.

Drug Dealer

We said this piece was going to be nasty, and here’s your evidence. Being a drug dealer is a very easy job. Your product sells itself and the money flows in at a rate of knots. In a previous life, I was a student at a fantastic university in the UK. I was all set to do my dissertation on the growth of the cartels in Mexico, looking at their social norms and how they spend the billions they earn. Then all of my contacts disappeared and it all fell to shit. However, the one thing I learned above all else is that there is a lot of money in being an advanced drug dealer. Maybe we’ll be Nancy Botwin from Weeds, and have the ebb and flow system of money gains and losses. We might be a Pablo Escobar and have to hide money all over the place. Either way, this sounds like a very favorable position.

Me? Well I am both academically and journalistically qualified to discuss this subject. I know that there is no money in dealing weed any more. Hopefully there will be no need for any weed dealers after November 8th 2016. I would deal in powders. High profit. Low risk. In Los Angeles, you could make a million a week dealing to the highest in control of this ungodly county. That’s just the sensible option.